


great expectations

by seigyoku



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fluff, M/M, happy!ocean fic, tyvm pixiv for all the sad doujins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-28 23:57:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seigyoku/pseuds/seigyoku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>eren and levi finally reach the sea, but it's not what eren expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	great expectations

**Author's Note:**

> partially based off of my personal experiences with the beach

In three short words, Eren is confused. His whole life, he had expected the sea to be some sort of watery Arcadia fit for Poseidon. Instead, he was met with chilling, putrid breezes and churning grey waters, the seafoam not pure white but a strange yellow hue instead. The whole trip to the sea, he had expected something different, paradise on Earth perhaps, a confirmation of the endlessness of the world.

“It smells like shit here,” a voice behind him sighs from above, still mounted on his horse. Eren resists the urge to turn around and petulantly shout that his childhood dreams were crumbling away at the moment and some sort of decorum was required for this situation.

Instead he settles for angrily running his fingers through his hair. He wishes that Armin were here; surely the blonde would have some explanation for why the land they pined after as children, envisioning sapphire waters and pure white sands and endless clear horizons, looked like any normal cloudy day in the walls. But Mikasa and Armin had to double back for supplies and meet up with Hanji. As he takes in the sound of waves roaring, he finally admits to himself that he should’ve been more patient and agreed to go along with the three instead of being so fixated on seeing the ocean first.

Admittedly, the horizon is still impressive, even if half of his view was blocked off by sheer alabaster cliffs. But other than that everything is grey. The water is grey, the rocks are grey, the sky is grey, the sand is dark grey with hints of light grey, and even the seaweed is a strange dark-brown-green-grey. The only things that aren’t grey are the honey colored driftwood pieces lying around on the sand and the flies buzzing around the dead (grey) seal a few steps away from them.

Eren sighs, hands falling limp at his sides but not before he kicks the sand indignantly a few times.

“ _Damn it_ ,” he shouts, completely ignoring the distressed snorting from his horse behind him. He doesn’t care that he’s getting pounds of sand in his boots and probably in between the belts in his harness so long as he can at least make some sort of mark in the place that shows his dissatisfaction. The ocean seems to know, as the next round of waves reign in and rush towards Eren’s feet. He doesn’t expect the water to meet his boots, but the frigid water washes his marks away and floods his boots in the process.

Eren jumps back with a yelp and tumbles over a piece of driftwood. He lands on his behind with a soft _oompf_ and lets out an indignant whine at all the sand clinging to his riding cloak. It isn’t until he starts patting off himself rapidly that he sees Levi turned away from him, shoulders shaking.

“Captain,” he asks, eyes wide from disbelief. “Are you — are you laughing?”

He stops moving and watches as Levi holds up a shaking hand, shooing him away, while the other covers his mouth. Eren can’t see his expression and as he hurriedly stands up and opens his mouth to say something in return, his face hot with embarrassment, but his luck has maxed out today and he steps on a dead jellyfish instead.

“Holy fuck what did I just step on,” he near screeches, rapidly hopping away on one foot. But humans were made bipedal for a reason and Eren stumbles again on the same piece of driftwood. Eren flat out gives up and spreads his arms and legs out, riding cloak half-covering his face.

“I’m done,” he shouts through the coarse material, sputtering as grains of sand land in his mouth. “I’m so fucking done.”

Levi lets out a shuddering breath, curling into his horse’s neck but the sounds of his laughter escape his hand. He’s near tears now at the absurdity of the situation and he’s not fully sure why he’s laughing so hard but Levi finally manages to calm himself down.

“Jesus _Christ,_ Eren,” he wheezes, “you should’ve seen the look on your face when you fell on your ass. Both times.”

“Yeah, well have you tried walking on this stuff,” Eren pouts indignantly at his commanding officer but Levi beckons him closer. “Come here.”

With a grunt, Eren pulls himself to his feet and walks over to Levi. The older leans over and brushes sand off of his cheek, his touches near-caresses if not for the sand scraping against his skin.  Eren relaxes into the touch, eyes closing so that all he can sense is Levi’s touch with the ocean’s roar as background noise.

Sure, the ocean’s physical appearance might have destroyed some of Eren’s childhood in one fell blow, but at least some of his dream was still in tact.

Eren opens his eyes, smile slowly spreading across his lips as he whispers, “Thank you for everything.”

Levi’s eyes soften and he leans forward to brush Eren’s bangs from his forehead before pressing a quick, light kiss. “Don’t thank me. You won this – all of this – with your own hands, silly brat.”

Eren gazes back, eyes full of conviction. “But I couldn’t have done it without you, Levi.”

Levi ruffles the boy’s hair. They’ve had this conversation hundreds of times and he gives in. No one was capable of deterring the boy once he set his mind on something, not even Levi himself. “Fine, fine. You can make up for that later after you clean your filthy ass off.”

The grin Eren shoots at him should have warned him, but within seconds Levi topples off his horse, Eren’s arms pulling his waist in.

“Fucking hell—“

They land on the sand together, Eren snickering as Levi rises to his feet slowly but dangerously.

“I hope you know what you’ve gotten yourself into, brat.”

Eren’s eyes widen innocently. “No, Captain, my hand just slipped—“ he catches the glint in Levi’s eyes, “--oh _shit_.”

The boy takes off running, peals of laughter mingling with the ocean’s murmur as Levi chases after him.

When Levi catches him and pins him to the ground, cravat off-center and breaths lightly brushing against his nose, Eren finally realizes that maybe the ocean isn’t too bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> aka part 12309893475 of me skiving off responsibilities  
> i just wanted to write eren and levi being precious babies and playing around in the sand ahaha  
> everything is happy and nothing hurts except for eren's ass


End file.
